Like Ice
by TypewriterToaster
Summary: Leafbare comes once a year, choking out all life and leaving nothing but ice. Despite this, the Clans live on, because they know that better days are ahead. But what happens when those better days don't come? The Clans may be prospering now... but they don't see the leafbare rapidly approaching.
1. Allegiances

**ALLEGIANCES**

 **ShadowClan**

 **Leader:** Toadstar - mottled gray tabby she-cat

 **Deputy:** Blizzardclaw - pure white tom with striking blue eyes

 **Medicine Cat:** Appleheart - dark ginger she-cat

 **Warriors:** Marshclaw - dark brown tom (APPRENTICE, DAWNPAW)

Stormstrike - black tom with white hind paws

Hollytuft - fluffy ginger she-cat (APPRENTICE, WHITEPAW)

Spiderleap - black and white tom

Sootnose - gray tom with darker paws, ears, and muzzle

Clawfur - tortoiseshell she-cat with a battle-scarred pelt (formerly known as Fawnspot)

Briarpoppy - white she-cat with brown tabby patches

Snailstep - sandy brown she-cat (APPRENTICE, MOSSPAW)

Lionpoppy - golden she-cat

 **Apprentices:** Dawnpaw - pale golden tom

Whitepaw - fluffy white tom with black ears

Mosspaw - white she-cat with gray tabby patches

 **Queens:** Cypressfur - reddish brown tabby she-cat (adoptive mother of Crowkit and Cinderkit)

 **Kits:** Pebblekit - dark gray she-kit with green eyes

Cinderkit - gray tabby tom with amber eyes

 **Elders:** Honeyheart - golden tabby she-cat with a scar on her cheek

Nightfoot - black she-cat with a white chest

Puddletail - blueish gray tom

 **RiverClan**

 **Leader:** Otterstar - reddish brown she-cat

 **Deputy:** Sandspots - mottled sandy brown tom

 **Medicine Cat:** Cloudpool - gray tabby tom; formerly a loner

 **Warriors:** Ashwhisker - dark gray tom (APPRENTICE, MINNOWPAW)

Tigernose - dark brown tabby she-cat

Gullflight - white tom with gray patches

Dovetail - small pale gray tom

Spottedsplash - tortoiseshell and white she-cat (APPRENTICE, SHELLPAW)

Hawkstripe - brown tabby tom

Cedarfur - dark ginger tabby she-cat

Alderclaw - grayish brown tom

Beetlefoot - jet black tom

 **Apprentices:** Minnowpaw - jet black she-cat with amber eyes

Shellpaw - light cream tom

 **Queens:** Poppyclaw - dark brown she-cat with black tabby stripes (Mother of Gullflight's kits: Duckkit and Owlkit)

Rainflower - blueish gray she-cat (carrying Sandspot's kits)

 **Kits:** Duckkit - white tom with brown patches

Owlkit - fluffy brown tabby tom with a short tail

 **Elders:** Troutsplash - grayish brown tom with darker flecks

Oakpelt - mottled dark brown she-cat

Littleclaw - small pale gray taby she-cat

 **ThunderClan**

 **Leader:** Foreststar - brown tabby tom (APPRENTICE, SWEETPAW)

 **Deputy:** Thrushwing - grayish brown she-cat

 **Medicine Cat:** Morningpoppy - pale golden she-cat with darker flecks

 **Warriors:** Rose - ginger she-cat, formerly a loner

Ivytail - gray tabby tom

Lakewhisker - blueish gray she-cat (APPRENTICE, STONEPAW)

Frostclaw - white tom with amber eyes

Squirrelnose - dark reddish brown she-cat

Rabbitleap - grayish brown tabby tom (APPRENTICE, EMBERPAW)

Badgertail - black tom with a short tail

Ruby - dark ginger tabby she-cat, formerly a loner (Rose's sister)

 **Apprentices:** Sweetpaw - tortoiseshell she-cat

Stonepaw - gray tabby tom

Emberpaw - dark ginger tom

 **Queens:** Bramblefur - brown tabby she-cat (Mother of Rabbitleap's kits: Dewkit and Pinekit)

Duskflower - dark grayish brown she-cat (Carrying Ivytail's kits)

 **Kits:** Dewkit - grayish brown tom

Pinekit - reddish brown tabby tom

 **Elders:** Talonfoot - sandy brown tom with abnormally long claws

Ravenheart - black she-cat with long fur

 **WindClan**

 **Leader:** Grousestar - brown and white she-cat

 **Deputy:** Haretail - gray tom with a short, fluffy tail

 **Medicine Cat:** Mothflight - golden brown tabby tom

Wooltail - light brown tom with curly fur

 **Warriors:** Sheepclaw - black and white tom

Fernpelt - pale gray tabby she-cat (APPRENTICE, THISTLEPAW)

Birchstripe - light brown tabby tom

Lizardtail - small grayish brown she-cat

Fogcloud - white and gray tom with stormy gray eyes

Snowspots - pale gray she-cat with darker flecks

Tawnyfur - mainly reddish-brown tortoiseshell she-cat

 **Apprentices:** Thistlepaw - mottled gray she-cat

 **Queens:** N/A

 **Kits:** N/A

 **Elders:** Flowernose - tortoiseshell she-cat with an oddly bent nose


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

"Hey, Cinderkit, catch this!"

A ball of moss soared by Cinderkit, narrowly missing his ear and landing in the grass behind him. A tail-length or so away, Pebblekit groaned, exasperated. "You're not s'posed to just _sit there_ ," she grumbled, trotting past to retrieve the ball. Cinderkit frowned.

"I was _trying_ that time!" he whined defensively, glaring at his sister. "You just threw it too hard!"

"Well, that just means you need to try harder!" Pebblekit retorted as she lifted the clump of moss in her jaws. In all honesty, Cinderkit hadn't been paying much attention to their game.

"Hey," Pebblekit mumbled, tone softer. "What's up? You haven't been acting yourself lately." She nudged her brother reassuringly. "Do I need to claw someone's pelt for ya? I can do that, y'know."

Cinderkit let out a small laugh, shuffling his paws. "Please don't," he mewled. "I'm just worried about becoming an apprentice, that's all." Pebblekit nodded in understanding, an overly serious look on her face.

"Of course!" the gray she-kit mewed, eyes wide. "Like, you go to the Moonpool, right? And StarClan just goes 'No way!' and kicks you off their turf! Or maybe-" Pebblekit gasped dramatically at her brother, who had burst into a fit of giggles. "-Maybe they zap you and make you lose all your fur! Congratulations, your new name as a full medicine cat is Baldpelt!"

"Shut-up!" Cinderkit managed to choke out between his howls of laughter. "I-can't-breathe!" Pebblekit snickered as she watched her brother try to calm himself down.

"But really, there's nothing to worry about," she reassured him, "...Baldpelt."

"What's all this fuss about losing hair?" a soft voice purred from behind them. Glancing up, the two kits were met with a familiar face.

"Hi, Cypressfur!" Cinderkit greeted as Pebblekit headbutted the she-cat's shoulder affectionately. Cypressfur wasn't their mother, but she'd raised them since they were newborns. The brown tabby smiled gently at the two, settling down into a patch of sunlight to groom herself.

"Cinderkit's worried about becoming an apprentice," Pebblekit explained, nudging her brother again. The she-kit dropped into a hunter's crouch, eyes narrowed. "I'm not, though. I'm gonna be the best warrior ShadowClan's ever seen!" She straightened herself up again. "I hope Hollytuft is my mentor, though. She's soooo cool!"

Cypressfur looked to Cinderkit. "Well," she meowed thoughtfully, "He _is_ going to be a medicine cat apprentice. It's an honor to become one, he must have a lot expected of him." The tabby she-cat stretched out and rolled onto her side, closing her eyes. Pebblekit pouted.

"You can't go to sleep yet, you just got out here!" she whined, gently prodding Cypressfur in the side. The queen's eyelids fluttered open, eyes twinkling. "I'm old!" she groaned good-naturedly. "I need my sleep!"

While his sister bickered with Cypressfur, Cinderkit quietly padded away to the medicine cat's den. Whitepaw looked up as he entered and gave the gray tom a grin.

"Look who it is!" he rasped, then glanced to Appleheart. The medicine cat, who had been organizing herbs, had given the white tom a firm look. He lowered his voice and added, "My throat's all messed up. That's why I'm here."

"Hello, Cinderkit," Appleheart greeted. "Whitepaw here's not supposed to be talking, one of the other apprentices dared him to eat a thorn." She glared at Whitepaw again, who was avoiding her gaze. "It scraped his throat," she added. "He could have been seriously injured."

Cinderkit nodded. "What herb are you giving him? Goldenrod?" Appleheart shook her head, making him a bit disappointed. He had been certain he had gotten that one right. He had been hanging around Appleheart for moons, trying to get a head start on his training.

"Normally, I would," she began, "But this is an internal wound, and we're out of goldenrod." The ginger she-cat gestured to a bit of honeycomb, which was lying on a piece of moss. "Luckily, one of the patrols yesterday managed to snag some honey for me, figuring I'd need it."

"It's _delicious_ ," Whitepaw added, perking up. "You should try some, Cinderkit!"

"It's a _valuable resource_ ," Appleheart retorted. "And I hadn't meant to use it on an apprentice who could've easily avoided _purposefully swallowing a thorn_."

"I'm, uh," Cinderkit mewed, glancing at the exit, "I'm gonna go."

Appleheart's gaze softened. "Oh, alright then. Goodbye!"

Cinderkit slipped out of the den, rolling his eyes. Why were the apprentices always getting into trouble nowadays? As he walked, the gray tom stopped to wonder if Pebblekit would ever be mouse-brained enough to do something like that. _Probably not,_ he thought to himself. _I can't see her eating thorns like they're a delicious treat._

Cinderkit trotted away to join Cypressfur and Pebblekit again, his worries about becoming an apprentice forgotten.


End file.
